If you’re Sean Singletary, you’re used to attention. Teams always know where you are on the court, and they know that when a big moment comes you want the ball in your hands. That means if you’re Sean Singletary, you take more than your fair share of abuse from opposing defenses.
Fortunately for all of us, we are not Sean Singletary today. Otherwise we would probably be sick, tired, and bruised all over after last night’s game against
Arizona, considering that the Wildcats physically accosted the senior pre-season All-American up and down the court last night. On the other hand, if we were Sean Singletary, we could say that we were part of Cavalier’s biggest road win in the Dave Leitao era.
“Our program is building,” Leitao said. “We’re tried to establish a solid foundation, and if we continue to learn, especially on the defensive end, we will continue to grow.”
The Cavaliers took take a huge step in the maturation process this weekend by squeaking out an extremely impressive victory against an inspired
Arizona team. The Wildcats had been listening all week to a comment Singletary made after
Virginia’s win that many in Tuscon thought questioned their team’s toughness. Despite an illness and a barrage of defenders, Singletary still ended up with a game-high 24 points and 8 assists. Perhaps even more impressive was his 11-11 performance at the line, none bigger than the two he hit with just over a minute remaining to break the 69-69 tie. He then came down the court and hit a clutch jump shot from just inside the arc to make it a two possession game going down the stretch.
“They were really playing me physical and my field goal percentage shows that,” Singletary said. “I’ve never played against a defense that tough ever. I never called them soft. I have the utmost respect for (the
Arizona basketball program). I don’t know where all that came from.”
Despite Singletary’s ability to make clutch shots down the stretch to keep
Virginia in front, the story of the year continues to be the help he is receiving on the offensive end. In his first ever road game as a college basketball player, Jeff Jones introduced himself to the Wildcat faithful with some dramatic long-range fireworks. His four three-pointers in the first half stunned the frenzied crowd and proved that Jones is not easily intimidated. He finished with 15 points on all three pointers, for second best on the team.
“Jeff has a lot of talent,” Singletary said. “He will probably win Freshman of the Week, and maybe the ACC Freshman of the Year. You can’t question his heart our there.”
Since Dave Leitao came to
Virginia, he has constantly preached one thing: defense. He fought hard to instill that mindset of intensity, but it is starting to pay dividends. Mamadi Diane had the unenviable task of taking on one of the top talents in the country in sophomore Chase Budinger, but Diane frustrated him all night long, containing him to just 6 of 14 shooting. Diane’s three blocks for the game show the success a team can have when everyone buys into the philosophy of the coaching staff.
“Our program is different than the last time we were (at
Arizona),” Singletary said. “It was Coach Leitao’s first season, and now our players are more mature. We had a lot of heart tonight from everyone on the team, from one to 15.”
Saturday night’s game ends a four-game series these two teams agreed to before the 2004 season began.
Virginia won three out of the four contests, and in each of those wins, Singletary played an instrumental role, averaging 22 points against the Wildcats. This year, the Cavaliers handed the Wildcats their first home loss in November since 1978, but overall
Arizona has lost five of their last seven games in
Tucson. For the Cavaliers, the win adds a huge boost to the morale of the program and to the confidence of the younger players.
“Playing against a ranked team, especially in this building, makes this win very special,” Leitao said.
The scariest thing for opponents with regards to
Virginia’s season thus far is that the Cavaliers are still far from full strength. Solomon Tat remains out with a sports hernia injury, Tunji Soroye will not see the court until January, and Sammy Zeglinski sat out against
Arizona for the first time this season. These injuries, combined with the slow returns of forwards Will Harris and Mike Scott, means that at full strength,
Virginia could be one of the deepest teams in the country.
Until everyone returns,
Virginia will need to continue getting great effort from unlikely contributors. Jamil Tucker and Lars Mikalauskas did a tremendous job keeping the
Arizona frontcourt in check. They may not have been McDonald’s All-Americans, but their performance shows that good coaching and mental toughness can improve a basketball team even without an annual truck load of blue chippers.
There is no rest for the weary, however. Next up for the Cavaliers will be the Drexel Dragons, a team that felt snubbed by the NCAA Selection Committee last year. The Dragons have shown a penchant for winning on the road, and
Virginia knows it has to be ready if it wants to continue its strong start to the season.
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